ticular, are frequently painted in two ground colors, bearing heraldic devices. The beaded or quilled bands have tribal peculiarities also. In another paper of this series we shall consider the probable origins of these various decorations. Returning to the coat-like features of the more modern forms of poncho, we may be reminded that the coat form is not necessarily of European origin. The Eskimo and most Déné tribes cut a coat-like garment that fits the neck and shoulders and has sleeves, but the best H Fig. 6. Diagram showing the arrangement of pieces cut from the preceding. known and most distinctly coat-like form is that of the Naskapi. Here the pattern is most clearly cut to fit the human form as in European tailoring. With slight variations this pattern extends through the Cree to the Rocky Mountains and thence to the Salish of British Columbia. It even dips into the Plains as shown in the old Gros Ventre specimen. The garments of the western Déné area are not very well known, but in Alaska some of the modern natives wear a coat with flaring skirts like the Naskapi and certain Siberian styles. It is therefore probable that the Naskapi form is aboriginal and not due to European influence. . . . WOMEN'S GARMENTS The costume for women is in its fundamental technique similar to that for men. Taking a Crow specimen as the type (Fig. 16) we see that three pieces of skin are used: an inserted yoke and two large pieces for the skirt. The sides are sewed up from the bottom of the skirt almost to the cape-like extension at the shoulders. There are no sleeves, but the cape-like shoulder piece falls down loosely over the arms. The side seams and the bottom and all outer edges are fringed. The garment has neither front nor back, both sides being the same. The technical concept is again a garment made from two whole skins, in this case, elkskins. A dress is formed by placing two whole skins face to face, the tail ends at the top, the head at the bottom. The neck is fitted and the yoke formed by the insertion of a transverse piece of skin. Very little trimming is needed to shape the sides of the skirt. WW WW Fig. 7. Shirt Patterns for Men: a Nez Percé; b Dakota; c Dakota; d Nez Percé; e Arapaho; f Crow. The distribution of this pattern concept so far as we were able to determine by the study of specimens is: Arapaho, Assiniboin, Apache, Blackfoot, Crow, Cheyenne, Comanche, Dakota, Gros Ventre, Hidatsa, Kiowa, Nez Percé, Northern Shoshoni, Plains-Cree, Sarsi, Ute, Yakima. We come now to the consideration of variations in the pattern. While the fundamental form holds throughout the above distribution, there are a number of distinct cuts for the contour of the yoke and the bottom of the skirt. Yet, there is very little variation within the tribe, it is truly surprising how precisely each of the tribes we have studied followed a Fig. 16. A Woman's dress, Crow. An entire elkskin is taken for each side. A cape-like yoke is formed of two pieces as above, and sewed in place. The tail projection on b hangs loosely over a corresponding one on a. definite form for the bottoms of their dresses, making it clear that they had a fixed mode, or style for the cut. This will be more fully discussed in another connection. European trade brought within the reach of these tribes the finest of cloth. A special quality known as strouding was always popular and from the very first was substituted for skins in making garments. This new material had a shape of its own and consequently presented a new problem to the Plains dressmaker. One example is shown in Fig. 21.3 A more common way was to take a rectangular piece of cloth, cut a neck hole in the middle, join the sides by triangular inserts and add shoulder extensions. In many cases the bottom of the skirt is cut out to conform to the old style. Thus it is clear that the original two-skin concept was able to prevail over the introduction of new materials. When we turn to ornamentation we find these dresses quite decorative. In contrast to men's ponchos, we find the tail of the elk falling in the center of the breast, but like them in the tendency toward horizontal decorations with quills and beads. While there is considerable tribal variation in decoration, the general tendency is to bead or quill more or less completely the entire yoke. The edges of the yoke and the skirt are usually fringed and sometimes the latter faced with a narrow band of beads. Upon the body of the skirt will be found a varying number of pendant thongs. Among the Blackfoot symbolic devices of red cloth are often found near the bottom of the skirt and similar attachments are noted on some Sarsi, Crow, and Assiniboin dresses. . . . SUMMARY Some of the points of general significance developed in the preceding discussion may be formulated as follows: 1. We have satisfactory proof that the characteristic style of garments for both men and women in the Plains area, was suggested by the natural contour of the materials used, or rather resulted from an economic use of the same. It is also shown how quickly the features determined by the shape of the original materials disappeared when trade cloth came into use, though the fundamental pattern remains the same, indicating that this pattern or general concept was one of structure rather than of adapted material. This leads one to suspect that the pattern concept came first to a skin-using people from some external source, most likely from the textile ponchos of the south. 2. The concept of tailoring, or cutting a garment to follow the lines of the shoulder and trunk is found in America only among the coatwearing tribes: viz., the Eskimo, a few northern Algonkin, and the Déné, 3 Omitted. |